' RD CLOUD. NEBRASKA. CHIEF
THE REAL MAN 1 Wk
By FRANCIS LYNDE J LH
JL (Copyright by ChsilesScribner's Sons) mC m S
IGLEYS
S. 0. s.
Y:
ryr'
41
CHAPTER XXVI Continued.
19
"No; you didn't suy too much," was
tlio low-toned reply. And then : "Billy,
n few months ago I was Jerked out of
my place In life nnd set down In an
other plnce where prnctlcully every
thing I had learned as n boy and mun
had to be forgotten. I don't know
that I'm making it understandable to
you, but"
"Yes, you are," broke In the man at
tho wheel. "I've had to turn two or
threo tittle double BoincrBaults myself
in tho years that arc gone."
"They used to call me 'Monty-Boy,'
back there In Lawrcncevllle, and I fit
ted the name," Smith went on. "I've
Just had to do the best I could out
here. I found that I had n body that
could stand man-sized hardship, and n
kind of savage nerve that could give
They Used to Call Me Monty-Boy."
and take punishment, and a soul that
could drive both body and nerve to the
limit. Also, I've found out what It
means to love n woman."
Starbuck checked the car's speed a
little moro to keep It well In the rear
of tho ambling cavulcade.
"That's your one best bet, John,"
he said soberly.
"It Is. I've cleaned out another room
since you called me down back yonder
In the tittle Creek road, Starbuck. I
can't trust my own leadings any more ;
they are altogether too primitive and
brutal ; so I'm going to take hers. She'd
send mo Into this fight that Is just
ahead of us, and all tho other fights
that are coming, with a heart big
enough to take In tho whole world.
She said I'd understand, some day;
that Td know that the only great man
Is one who Is too big to be little ; who
can fight without hating; who can die
to make good, irthat Is tho only way
that offers."
"That's Corry Baldwin, every day
in tho week, John. They don't make
em nny finer than she Is," was S-tar-buck's
comment. And then: "I'm be
ginning to kick myself for not letting
you co and have one more round-up
with her. She's doing you good, right
along."
"You didn't stop me," Smith af
firmed ; "you merely gave mo a chance
to stop myself. It's nil over now, Billy,
and my little race is about run. But
whatever happens to me, cither this
night, or beyond it, I shall be a free
man. You can't put handcuffs on a
' soul and send it to prison, yoa know.
That is what Corona was trying to
make me understand ; and I couldn't
or wouldn't."
Over a low hill just ahead tho pole
bracketed lights at the dam wero star
ring themselves against the sky, and
the group of horsemen halted at tho
head of tho railroad trestle which
marked the location of the north side
unloading station. Harding had sent
two otJils oen forward and they re
ported that there wore no guards on
the north bank, and that tho stagings,
on the down-streum face of tho dam,
were also unguurded. Thereupon
Harding made his dispositions. Half
of the posse was to go up tho northern
bank, dismounted, nnd rusli tho cump
by wuy of tho stagings. Tho remain
ing half, also on foot, was to cross
at once on the railroad trestle, and to
mako Its approach by way of tho
wagon road skirting the mesa foot.
At an agroed-upon signal, tho two de
tachments wero to closo In upon the
company buildings In tho construction
camp, trusting to tho surprise nnd tho
attack from opposite directions to over
come any disparity in numbers.
At Smith's urglngs, Starbuck went
with the party which crossed by way
of'the raliroud trestle, Smith himself
accompanying tho sheriffs detachment.
With tho horses left behind under
guard nt the treBtle head, tho up-river
upproach was made by both parties
simultaneously, though in tho dark
ness, and with tho breadth of tho river
intervening, neither could see tho
movements of tho other. Smith kept
his place besldo Harding, und to tho
sheriff's query ho answered that ho
was unarmed.
"You'vo got a nerve," was all tho
comment Harding made, and nt that
they topped the slight elevation and
came among the stone debris 1b the
scrth-sll quarries.
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From tho quarry cutting tho view
struck out by tho camp mastheads was
unobstructed. The dam and tho un
completed power house, still figuring
to tho eye ns skeleton masses of form
timbering, luy Just below them, and
on tho hither side the Hooding tor
rent thundered through the spillway
gates, which had been opened to their
fullest capacity. Between the quurry
and tho northern dam-head ran tho
smooth concreted channel of tho main
ditch canal, with the wnter in the res
ervoir lako still lapping several feet
below tho level of its entrnnco to give
assurance thnt, until the spillways
should bo closed, tho charter-saving
stream would never pour through tho
canal.
On the opposite side of tho river
the dam-head nnd the camp street
were deserted, but there were lights
in the commissary, In the ollicc shack,
and In Bluo Pete Slmms' canteen dog
gery. From the lntter quarter sounds
of revelry roso above tho spillway
thunderings, and now and ugaln u
drunken figure lurched through tho
open door to make its way uncertain
ly toward the rank of bunk houses.
Harding was staring Into the further
nimbus of the electric rays, trying to
pick up some sign of the other half .of
his posse, when Smith mnde u sug
gestion. "Both of your parties will have tho
workmen's bunk houses in range, Mr.
Harding, and wo mustn't forget that
Colonel Baldwin nnd Williams are
prisoners In the timekeeper's shack.
If tho guns hnvo to be used "
"There won't be any wild shooting,
of tho kind you're thinking of," re
turned tho sheriff grimly. "There
ain't a single man lu tills posse that
can't hit what he aims at, nine limes
out o' ten. But here's hoplu we can
gather 'em in without the guns. If
they ain't lookin' for us "
Tho interruption was the whining
song of a jacketed bullet passing over
head, followed by tho crack of a rifle.
"Down, boys I" said tho sheriff softly,
setting the exumplo by sliding Into tho
ready-made trench afforded by the dry
ditch of the outlet canal; and ns ho
said It a sharp fusillade broke out,
with fire spurtlngs from the commis
sary building and others from tho
mesa beyond to show that the surprise
was balked in both directions.
"They must have had scouts out,"
was Smith's word to the sheriff, who
was cautiously reconnoltering the new
ly developed situation from tho shel
ter of the canal trench. "They are
evidently ready for us, and thnt knocks
your plnn in the hcud. Your men
can't cross these stagings under fire."
"Your 'wops' nro all right, nnywny,"
said Harding. "They're pouring out of
the bunk houses and thnt saloon over
thce and taking to tho hills like a
flock o' scared chickens." Then to
his men: "Scatter out, boys, and get
tho rango on that commissary shed.
Th&t's where most of the rustlers are
cached."
Two days earlier, two hours earlier,
perliaps, Smith would huvo begged a
weapon and flung himself Into tho
fray with blood lust blinding him to
everything save the battle demands of
tho moment But now the final mile
stone iu the long road of his metamor
phosis had been passed and tho dark
somo valley of elemental passions was
left behind.
"Hold up a minute, for God's sake I"
he pleaded hastily. "We've got to give
them a show, Harding I The chances
are that every man in that commis
sary believes that M'Graw has the law
on his side and wo are not sure that
he hasn't. Anyway, they don't know
that they are trying to stand off n
sheriff 's posse 1"
Harding's chucklo was surdonlc
('You mean that we'd ought to go over
yonder and rend the riot act to 'em
first? That might do back in tho
country whero you carao from. But
the man that can get Into that camp
over there with the serving papers
now'd havo to be armor-plated, I
reckon."
"Just tho same, we've got to give
them their chancol" Smith insisted
doggedly. "Wo can't stand for any
unnecessary bloodshed I won't stand
for itl"
Harding shrugged his heavy shoul
ders. "One round Into thnt sheet-Iron
commissary shack'll bring 'em to timo
and nothing else will. I hain't got
any men to throw away on tho dew
dabs and furbelows."
Smith sprung up and held out his
hand.
"You havo at least ono man that
you can spare, Mr. Harding," ho
snapped. "Give mo those papers. I'll
go over and serve them."
At this tho big sheriff promptly lost
his temper.
"You blamed fooll" ho burst out.
"You'd bo dog-meat before you could
get ten feet away from this ditch 1"
"Never mind: glvo mo thoso papers,
I'm not going to stand by quietly and
seo a lot of men shot down on tho
chance of a misunderstanding 1"
"Take 'era, then!" rasped Harding,
meaning nothing moro than the call
ing of a foolish theorist's bluff.
Smith caught nt the warrants, and
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before anybody could stop him ho was
down upon the stagings, swinging him
self from bent to bent through n storm
of bullets coming, not from the com
missary, but from the saloon shack
on tho opposite hank n whistling
shower of lead that inado every mnn
In tho sheriff's party duck to cover.
How the volunteer process-server
ever lived to get across the bridge of
death no man might know. Thrice In
the hnlf-mlnute dash he wns hit; yet
there was life enough left to carry him
stumbling across the Inst of the stag
ing bents; to send him reeling up the
runway nt the end and acrofjs the
working yard to the door of the com
mlssury, waving the folded papers like
an inadequate flag of truce as he fell
on the doorstep.
After thnt, all things were curiously
hazy and undefined for him. There
was the tumult of a fierce battle be
ing waged over him ; a deafening rifle
fire nnd the spnt-spnt of bullets punc
turing the sheet-Iron walls of thu'com
mlssury. Iu tho midst of It he lost
his hold upon the realities, nnd when
ho got It again the warlike clamor was
stilled and Sturbuck was kneeling be
side him, trying, apparently, to deprive
him of his clothes with the reckless
slashings of a knife.
Protesting feebly nnd trying to rise,
lie saw the working yard filled with
armed men nnd the returning throng
of laborers; saw Colonel Baldwin and
Williams tulklng excitedly to tho sher
iff; then he caught the eye of tho engi
neer and beckoned 'eugerly with his
one available hand.
"Hold still, until I can find out how
dead you arc!" gritted the rough-und-ready
surgeon who was 'plying tho
clothes-ripping knife. But when Wil
liams clinic und bent down to listen,
Smith found u voice, shrill nnd strident
und so little HkG his own thnt ho
scarcely recognized It.
"Call 'em out cull tho men out and
start the gate machinery 1" he panted
In the queer, whistling voice which
was, und was not, his own. "Possess
possession Is nine points of the law
thut's what Judge Warner said : tho
spillways, Bartley shut 'em quick l"
"The men are on the Job nnd tho
machinery is starting right now," said
Willlums gently. "Don't you hear It?"
And then to Starbuck : "For Heaven's
sake, do something for him, Billy
anything to keep him with us until a
doctor can get here I"
Smith felt himself smiling foolishly.
"I don't need uny doctor, Bartley;
what I need Is a new ego: then I'd
stand some sha some chance of find
ing " he looked up nppcullngly nt
Sturbuck "what is it that I'd stand
some chanco of finding, Billy? I I
cun't seem to remember."
Williams turned his fuce away and
Starbuck tightened his benumbing grip
upon the severed nrtery In tho bared
arm from which he hud cut the sleeve.
Smith seemed to be going off again,
but ho suddenly opened his eyes and
pointed frantically with a finger of tho
ono serviceable hand." "Catch hlmt
Cutch him I" he shrilled. He's going
to dy-dynamltc the dam 1"
Clinging to consqlousness with a
grip that not even the blood loss
could break, Smith saw Williams
spring to his feet and give the ainrin ;
saw threo or four of the sheriff's men
drop their weapons and hurl them
selves upon another man who was try
ing to make his way unnoticed to tho
"Catch Him! Catch Hlml"
Stagings with a box of dynamlto on
his shoulder. Then he felt tho foolish
smile coming again when ho looked up
at Starbuck.
"Tell the llttlo girl tell her you
know what to tell her, Billy; about
what I tried to do. Harding said I'd
get killed, but I remembered what she
said, and I didn't care. Tell her I
said that that ono rolnuto was worth
living for worth all it cost."
Tho raucous blast of a freak auto
horn ripped into tho growling murmur
of tho gate machinery, and a dust
covered car pulled up lu front of tho
commissary. Out of it sprang first
the doctor with his instrument bag,
nn'i. closely following him, two plain-
clothes men nnd n Brewster police
captain lu uniform. Smith looked up
and understood.
"They're Just a little too late,
Billy, don't you think?" he qunvered
weakly. "I guess I guess I've fooled
them, after nil." Ami therewith he
closed his eyes wearily upon nil his
troubles und trlumphlngs.
CHAPTER XXVII.
In Sunrise Gulch.
Wllllnm Starbuck drew tho surgeon
aside after tho first aid had been ren
dered, and Smith, still unconscious,
had been carried from tho makeshift
operating table In the commlssury to
Williams' cot In tho oftlco shack.
"How about .it, Doc?" asked the
mine owner bluntly.
The surgeon shook his head doubt
fully. "I can't say. He'll bo rather lucky
If he doesn't mnko It, won't he?"
Starbuck remembered thnt tho doc
tor hud come out in tho nuto with tho
police captain and tho two plain
clothes men.
"Unckcrmnn has been talking?" he
queried.
The surgeon nodded. "He told mo
on the way out. If I were In Smith's
place, I'd rather puss out with n bul
let In my lung. Wouldn't you?"
Sturbuck was frowning sourly.
"Suppose you make It n ense of sus
pended judgment, Doc," he suggested.
"The few iff us" here who know any
thing about It nro giving John the
benefit of the doubt. They'll huvo to
show me, and half a dozen of us, be
fore they cun send him over the road."
"He know they wero nfter him?"
"Sure thing; and ho had nil the
chance ho needed to mnko his got
away. Ho was shot while he was
trying to get between and stop the
war und keep others from getting
killed."
"It's n pity," snld tho Burgeon, glnnc
lng ncross ut tho police cnptuln to
whom Colonel Baldwin was appcullng.
"They'll nut him In tho hospltul cell
at tho Jail, and thnt will cost him
whntcver slender chance ho might oth
erwise hnvo to pull through."
Starbuck looked up quickly.- "Tell
em ho enn't bo moved, Doc Dan," he
urged suddenly. And then: "You're
Dick Mnxwell's family physician, and
Colonel Dextcr's, and mine. Surely
you can do that much for us?"
I can, nnd I will," said tho surgeon
promptly.
Three days nfter tho wholeBOlo nr
rest nt tho dam,. Brewster gossip hud
fairly outworn Itself telling and re
telling tho story of how the nigh Line
charter had been saved ; of how Craw
ford Stanton's bold ruse of hiring an
cx-traln-robber to impersonate n federal-court
officer had fallen through
leaving Stanton nnd his confederates,
ruthlessly nbnncjoned by tho un
named principals, languishing bnlllcss
In Jail ; of how Smith, tho hero of all
these occnslons, was still lying nt the
point of denth In tho office shack at
the construction camp, and David Kin
zle, once more in keen pursuit of the
loaves and fishes, was combing the
market for odd shares' of the stock,
which was now climbing swiftly out
of rench. But nt this climax of ex
haustionor satiety camo a distinct
ly new set of thrills, more titillating,
If possible, than nil the others com
bined. It was on the morning of the third
day thnt tho Herald announced tho
return of Mr. Joslnh Rlchlander from
the Topaz; nnd in the mnrrlngo no
tices of the same Issue tho breakfast
table readers of tho newspapers
learned that the multimillionaire's
daughter had been privately married
tho previous evening to Mr. Tucker
Jlbbey. Two mining speculators wero
chuckling over tho news In the Hopbra
House grill when a third mnn camo
in to Join them.
"What's the Joko?" queried tho new
comer; und when ho wns shown tho
marriage item, ho nodded gravely.
"That's nil right; but tho Herald mun
didn't get tho full flavor of It. It was
a sort of runnway match, it seems;
the fond purent wasn't Invited or con
sulted." "I don't seo that the fond parent hns
nny kick coming," said the ono who
had sold Jlbbey a promising prospect
hole on Topaz mountain two days ear
lier. "The young fellow's got all kinds
of money."
"I know," tho land broker put in.
"Rut thoy'ro whispering it around that
Mr. Rlchlander had other plans for
his daughter. They nlso say that Jlb
bey wouldn't stay to faco the music;
that ho left on tho midnight train last
night a few hours after tho wedding,
so as not to bo among thoso present
when the old mnn should blow in."
"What?" In a chorus of two "left
his wife?"
That's what they say. But that's
only ono of tho new nnd stnrtllng
things thnt Isn't in tho morning pnpers.
Havo you heord about Smith? or
haven't you been up long enough yet?"
"I heard yesterday that ho was be
ginning to mend," replied tho break
faster on tho left.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
..i..k. ... it . ..v. ij-. .- - --- r.1-r .--- -t -
Send
JfciiK
th1
Didn't Feed Them.
Even With the Barber.
"Don't you euro for any postcard
today?" asked the postal clerk us ho
handed the mun the stump he hud
requested.
"No, not today," said the man.
"Or somo Mumped envelopes? We
have some new ones."
"No, thank you."
"Would you like n money order?" y
"No."
"Or porhnps you would like to open
a postal snvlngs account?"
But tho man hud fled.
"Who wns that fellow, and why did
you ask him all those questions?"
BBked a fellow clerk.
"That," said the oilier clerk, "Is
my barber. For years when he hns
shaved me he hns bothered me with
recommendations of mrissuges, sham
poos, haircuts and hnlr tonics. I am
even with him now."
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Spanked the Kitty.
The little black kitten hid under the
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"Klttly scratched me, so I wns
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"If you spunk kitty, she won't love
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"I didn't know 'bout that," replied
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Kitty Jack told mo lust night that
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Ethel O, that's nothing. Ho snld
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Kitty I know that; but as one
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A Question.
"Anyhow, poverty Is no crime."
"And that's n good thing. Where
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